


Break the Ice

by Steangine



Category: Bleach
Genre: Alternate Universe, Cats, Christmas Time, F/F, Fluff, I Tried, genderbend Ichigo and Grimmjow
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-10
Updated: 2018-12-10
Packaged: 2019-09-15 17:14:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16937400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Steangine/pseuds/Steangine
Summary: Ichigo is not good at skating, nor she is at breaking the ice. Grimmjow is good at both.[AU, fem!Ichigo, fem!Grimmjow, fluff - mention of cats]





	Break the Ice

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by a drawing.

“Go there and break the ice with her, Ichigo.”

Rukia ordered her as if she was telling Ichigo to go buy something at the supermarket.

“Easy speaking for you.”

“Fool. It takes a little to say few words.”

Ichigo looked at her best friend; the white coat and the severe look into his eyes gave her the same nobility of the snow queen drawn into Ichigo’s little sisters’ books.

“I’m not accepting such words from the one who took a whole year to reveal her feelings to Riruka when it was obvious they were mutual.”

“That was a calculated courting tactic. I don’t expect the likes of you would understand it.”

“Calculated courting tactic my ass! You reached the point you couldn’t speak whenever she was around.”

Speaking of the devil, Riruka arrived. She took time and sweat but completed the round on the ice rink’s perimeter – she did it just to show Rukia that she could skate too, even if Ichigo doubted that holding onto the balustrade and dragging the feet could be counted as skating. Beribboned into her gracious long pink coat and the long hair gathered under the fluffy hat with rabbit ears, Riruka approached Rukia and fell forward to give her a hug. Rukia was 10 centimeters shorter, but she held her without swaying.

“I made it!” She panted, her cheeks as red as her gloves. “I managed to skate on my own!”

“You’ve been wonderful!” Rukia was sincere, her eyes were gleaming.

“But now I’m tired. I want a donut!”

Rukia grabbed her hands and held them tight. “I know a place perfect for donuts!”

Actually, nor Rukia nor Ichigo knew if that particular café sold donuts, but it was the very first rabbit café in Karakura, and both bent over backwards to prevent Riruka from discovering it; Rukia wanted it to be a surprise for her.

“Then let’s go! I can’t wait!” Riruka was sparkling like the countless lights which adorned the facades of the shops and the trees for Christmas. “Ichigo, you don’t come?”

Ichigo was slowly making her way towards the center of the ice rink. “No, I’m staying here a bit more. Have fun. I don’t like donuts.”

Riruka didn’t put her hands on the hips because she was holding in a precarious balance onto Rukia. She showed her disappointment with a noisy huff. “You have no taste at all.”

“Yes, yes. Enjoy, have fun.”

“Be careful not to fall, Ichigo.” Rukia greeted her.

“Only because I cannot do the loops like you, it doesn’t mean I cannot skate!”

Ichigo could skate. A little. She had a nice balance, but, for some strange reason, whenever she put a single foot on the ice, all the physics laws worked against her in the attempt to make her butt slide on the cold surface. She could move around, but whenever someone darted near her, she froze on the spot; moreover, she had troubles stopping, so she never skated on a pace faster than a slow walk.

However, all the cautions she could take weren’t enough to protect her. As she skated, her eyes darted towards Rukia and Riruka, who had just taken their skates off and were heading to the exit. That single instant of distraction was enough for her not to notice the man coming towards her and avoid the bump on her shoulder. Ichigo mulled her arms over, a poor attempt of maintaining the balance which didn’t work at all: she fell on her butt lacking the graciousness which many human beings expected from a female.

The night sky was in front of her, and she prayed that nobody paid too much attention to her disgraceful fall. Her hopes shattered when she felt two strong arms raising her. She turned her head, ready to devour with words whoever was doing that – because she didn’t need any help. But as she looked into two wonderful blue eyes, her rage reached the same temperature of the ice.

“Uhm…” She couldn’t avoid a nervous chuckle. “I can do it on my own.”

The girl didn’t listen to her and raised her back on her feet easily, as if she wasn’t a teenager about the same height as her, but a small child.

“You fell so hard that I thought you would have broken the ice.”

All the amaze Ichigo felt to be so close the girl she noticed when they arrived at the ice rink, the one Rukia told her countless times to talk with, disappeared in front of the mocking smirk. Of a foreign beauty, but irritating.

“Nobody asked you!”

“Do you want some lessons?”

“I don’t need them!”

“Alright then.”

The girl skated back, her eyes kept on Ichigo before turning around to fly on the ice. Rukia was grace as she moved around among the people, she drew figures among them, so natural and gentle that she almost resembled a fairy carefully approaching humans. On the contrary, the girl was a devastating force, pure power which made everyone bend away from her path, but she glided with a mysterious elegance: her long blue hair wavered freely on her back, her body moved sinuous.

Ichigo didn’t remember she had ever felt so gay for someone else. She had feelings for her childhood friend, Tatsuki, which, during the first year of high school, those turned out being a just the signals of a strong friendship. But that girl, she made her heart stop and pound, her stomach contract, her cheeks burn.

As she stopped in front of her, Ichigo realized she stood there were she was left and observed her for all the time, without diverting her eyes from her gorgeous body.

“You’re impressed.” The girl smirked.

Ichigo growled. “As if! You’re not _that_ good!”

“Okay then.” The girl’s grin widened, showing her pointy canines, and Ichigo though she could be a sort of predator – _she surely was, she had just captured her hormones and made a mess out of them._ “Since you think you’re better than me, let’s make a deal.”

“I don’t think I’m–”

“Catch me. I’ll give you five minutes. If you manage to, I’ll offer you a drink.”

“And what happens if I don’t catch you?”

“You’ll have five minutes to escape from me.”

Something burnt inside her eyes. Ichigo caught it but couldn’t name it. It gave her a bizarre sensation, a lukewarm shiver which caressed her whole spine and made her legs wobble. But, as firm as she could be on the ice, she glared back at her.

“I’ll catch you! Don’t underestimate me!”

Ichigo didn’t manage to catch her. At first, she was torn between keeping her balance and rush to her. But her sly smirk boasted a self-confidence in Ichigo that made her try the chase, despite the evident difference in their skills. When it came Ichigo’s turn to be chased, she almost died of embarrassment as the strong arms hugged her waist from behind and the warm breath tickled her ear.

“You sure you don’t need any lesson?”

Her chuckle melted Ichigo’s last defenses and struck right into her chest. She totally fell for her.

“By the way, name’s Grimmjow.”

“…Ichigo.”

They went to a café nearby. Ichigo had never entered a neko café, so it felt strange sitting at a table with many cats sleeping or scampering around. One leaped on Grimmjow’s lap for a pleasant scratch on the head.

Under the anonymous jacket, Grimmjow was wearing a knitted sweater with a cat’s paws design on it. It was something Ichigo would have never associated to her, but, unexpectedly, it suited her.

“Are you a foreigner? You speak well Japanese.”

“I lived in Spain with my grandparents until middle school. They’re both Japanese and they taught me.”

“I see.”

Grimmjow scribbled something on a tissue. “Is your name written like this?”

Ichigo recognized the kanji for _strawberry_ and frowned. “No.” She sounded outraged. “My name means the one who protects.”

“Wow. A pretentious name for someone who can’t keep her balance.”

“Shut up! I can keep my balance!”

Grimmjow ignored her and scribbled something else. “So, is it written like this?”

The second time, Ichigo read her name on the tissue. The kanji were correct.

“You’re good with kanji.”

“Yup. I sort of like them.”

Grimmjow immediately shut up and concentrated on the cat, who decided to lean his head on her shoulder; he was rubbing himself against her to receive more cuddles.

“…you… like cats?” Ichigo was never the one who started conversations. Usually, it was his friend Keigo or Orihime who kept the communication lively.

“I have two at home.” A little scratch behind the ears. “I’ll show you some pictures.” She took out the phone from a pocket of the coat hung to the backseat of the chair and opened the photograph of a black and white cat sleeping on brownish cat with black stripes. “The black and white one is Pantera, the other one is Jaguar.” She glided the index on the screen and showed the next photograph, the cats sitting one next to the other; as she kept leafing through the photographs, Ichigo wondered if she had only pictures of her cats.

“You like cats?” Grimmjow asked when she decided she showed enough moments of her cats’ life.

“A bit, I guess. We’ve never had animals at home, even if my sisters want to.”

Ichigo looked at her shrugging and wondered how even such a simple gesture was so seductive. “You can come to my place and see mine, sometimes.”

She casually threw in the invitation, so normal in the voice and attitude that Ichigo took a while to elaborate the whole situation: the girl she labeled as _hot as fuck_ had just invited her to go to her place. A distorted voice yelled _“Yes!”_ inside Ichigo’s head. However, her pride was quick to kick the unrequested instinct away.

“I’ll think about it.”

Grimmjow felt like she had just faced the worst defeat of her life. She looked again at the mobile, a glimpse of hope before turning on the screen and realizing she had no new notifications. Her growl distracted Nel from the book she was reading.

“Do you want to spend the whole break grumbling like an old woman?”

“Fuck you, Nel.” Grimmjow sent murdering thunders through her eyes. “This is your fault, in the first place.”

“You have a strange reaction for being the one who didn’t care if this Ichigo didn’t reply to you message.”

“You stole my smartphone and sent her a message without telling me!”

“You are the one who wanted to invite her home. The sooner, the better.”

“I met her two days ago! You made me look desperate!”

“But you are desperate, Grimmjow.”

Grimmjow growled her anger at her, but nothing seemed to pierce through the elegant indifference Nel always wore.

Some desks behind them, the other two students who remained in class were listening. Nnoitra snickered at Grimmjow. “I can’t blame anyone if they turn you down. You’re a pain in the ass.”

Ulquiorra , who seemed to be submerged in the contemplation of the math book, raised his head and looked at Grimmjow with a grave seriousness carved into his eyes. “For how it displeases me agreeing with a disgusting piece of trash like Nnoitra–”

“Who’s the piece of trash?!”

“–I must agree with him this time.” He finished ignoring Nnoitra’s glare and the fact he was close and had arms long enough to reach his head even in case of retreat and smash it against the desk.

Nel allowed herself a low sigh. “Yes, agreeing with Nnoitra tingles my pride, but I must take a step back and admit he’s not wrong.”

Grimmjow stood up in a burst of rage, the chair gritted against the floor. “Why don’t you all go fuck yourselves? With your own hands, since you’re all part of the pain in the ass club apparently!”

Nnoitra laughed. “Come on, don’t tell me you’re sad no–”

If there was anything that no one could match up with Grimmjow, was her speed and precision. The random pair of case she grabbed from the closest desks hit both Nnoitra and Ulquiorra right in between their eyes: Nnoitra was too busy laughing at her to notice, Ulquiorra thought too low of her and went back to reading the book right before he felt the pain exploding into his head.

As she exited the classroom, Nnoitra pouted at Nel.

“Why didn’t she hit you as well, Neliel?!”

Neliel shrugged. “She knows that if she ever tries to…” She shoved a hand on her bag and rustled inside. “…to…” Her words faded as she rustled faster. “…to…” Nel put the book down and looked straight into her bag. “Where are my jellies?”

Her jellies were on the old storage room near the gym. Grimmjow learnt how to open it the second month of her first year and never told anyone; nobody used that room anymore if not to throw inside old useless tools and she hid there when she wanted to stay alone.

She had a long red jelly between her lips and slowly munched on it while looking again at the photographs and videos of her cats. In retrospect, she should have shut her mouth and tell nothing to Neliel. She felt stupid.

It happened for the first time, while she was enjoying herself alone on the ice. The disappointment that each of her friends let her down after they agreed on going together to the ice rink disappeared into thin air as she caught sight of Ichigo. Her long hair burnt like the flames which exploded inside Grimmjow’s chest. She was terrible at skating, especially compared to her small friend, who moved on the ice as if she was born and raised on it, but Grimmjow didn’t mind: she was beautiful. That was the first time Grimmjow experienced such a strong feeling only by looking at another person. And she felt like an idiot, because she had no control over it.

“Stupid Nel.” She muttered to herself devouring all her jellies and getting ready to receive any kind of retortion later. Those candies also sucked, she was just eating them out of spite.

Then, while she gulped down another jelly, the mobile trembled into her hand. She expected an enraged menacing message from Nel, so, Grimmjow’s stomach made a double backflip when she read Ichigo’s name on the screen. The preview of the message ruined the expectation and the revelation: everything was smashed against Grimmjow so hard that she froze for a handful of seconds.

_ – Sure, I’d like to come. When are you free? – _

Grimmjow jumped on her feet, spreading jellies everywhere around her, and run back to the class, ready to slam into everyone’s faces that reply. Many first years shivered as they looked at her wide savage grin.

Meanwhile, many kilometers further, in a class of Karakura High School, Ichigo was yelling at Rukia.

“Why did you reply?!”

“Because you didn’t, you fool! You waited a whole day and would have waited more!”

“I didn’t want her to think I’m desperate!”

Rukia didn’t reply immediately, she tilted her head and lowered her voice to a much calmer level. “But you are desperate, Ichigo.”

Ichigo felt the need of punching her on the head, which was also simple, due to their difference in height. But the vibration of the mobile distracted her just in time. When she read the message on the screen, her blush betrayed her feeling. Rukia crossed her arms and nodded.

“So, when’s the date, Ichigo?”

**Author's Note:**

> I didn't know I shipped Rukia and Riruka before they told me about this couple.


End file.
